This invention relates generally to bed arrangements for over-the-road trucks, and more particularly, to a folding bed arrangement adaptable to the cab of an over-the-road truck having a supportive fabric mattress.
Large over-the-road trucks, or long haul tractor-trailers have long been designed with extended cab areas into which beds may be placed so that the drivers have a place to sleep or relax during breaks in driving. Often the cab is designed to accommodate two such beds, however, since the cab of the truck is also frequently the driver's home for long periods of time, it is important to create as much storage space within the cab for keeping the drivers belongings or other items. Therefore, it is desirable to have a bed arrangement which can be compactly and conveniently stored within the cab, thus providing extended storage space, yet still providing a convenient comfortable sleeping surface.
In this regard, folding beds and beds adapted for use within truck cabs are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,438 discloses a bed which includes a rigid honeycombed sleeping surface which may be folded up and out of the way for additional storage. U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,137 discloses a folding bunk which has a canvas sleeping area supported on two rods. One of the rods may be moved to a first position where the canvas material is extended into a horizontal sleeping surface or to a second position, where the rod and canvas material are folded out of the way. As will be greatly appreciated, however, the bunk must not only be convenient to use and stow, it must also be comfortable to sleep on, that is, not too hard so as to be uncomfortable nor too flimsy so as not to provide enough support. Prior art bunks having rigid sleeping surfaces are either very hard and uncomfortable to sleep on or require large cushions or mattresses which take up storage space and add to the weight and cost of the bunk. Bunks using canvas material generally do not provide the support required for comfortable sleeping.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a folding bed arrangement for over-the-road trucks in which the bed is constructed of a frame and a semi-elastic fabric stretch over the frame providing a firm comfortable sleeping surface. The frame can be pivoted from a lowered or sleeping position to a raised or stowed position thereby allowing ease of access to and increased storage area. The semi-elastic fabric, when the bunk is in the lowered position, is stretched to a pre-load tension condition thereby providing the firmness necessary for a superior sleeping surface without a conventional mattress. The pivoting frame is designed to provide the predetermined amount of pre-load to the fabric when it is in the sleeping position as well as to facilitate the stowing or extending of the bunk.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a comfortable supportive folding bunk arrangement for over-the-road trucks which can be conveniently stowed within a minimum amount of space in the cab and is quickly and easily moved from the stowed position to a sleeping position and vise versa.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a folding bed arrangement for over-the-road trucks in which the tensioned fabric mattress further acts to retain the folding bed in the stowed position thereby eliminating the need for additional latches, straps or gas cylinders to retain the bed in the stowed position.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a comfortable supportive folding bunk arrangement for trucks which is light weight and low cost.
These and other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following written description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.